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Fla. delegation looks to rebuild clout at Capitol

The state's profile in Congress has declined, but a new guard of lawmakers is working to bring back some political muscle.

By WES ALLISON, BILL ADAIR and ANITA KUMAR
Published January 22, 2006

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WASHINGTON - Only a few years ago, Florida was a major force in Congress. Connie Mack was the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, and his Democratic colleague Bob Graham would soon head the Senate Intelligence Committee.

In the House, C.W. Bill Young chaired the Appropriations Committee, Porter Goss ran the Intelligence Committee and Mike Bilirakis headed a prominent subcommittee on health.

But retirements and party term limits have diminished Florida's clout, leaving the state with a cast of promising newcomers, but none in the top echelons of congressional leadership, and none chairing committees.

As it enters a new year, Florida's congressional delegation to Congress is in flux, with senior members entering the twilight of their careers and younger ones trying to build the seniority and expertise that will give them the clout of their predecessors.

"I don't think there's any doubt that it is evolving," Sen. Mel Martinez, a freshman Republican, said of the delegation. "But Florida is a very important state and we have a large delegation, and that's always going to give us a certain amount of clout."

With 27 members - the two senators and 25 House members, including five from the Tampa Bay area - Florida boasts the fourth-largest delegation to Congress, and has the third-largest number of ruling party Republicans.

But it's the only one of those top four states without a single committee chairmanship; Californians, by comparison, chair five House committees, including some of the most powerful - Appropriations, Armed Services, Rules and Ways and Means.

A Texan runs the Energy and Commerce Committee. New Yorkers chair Homeland Security and Science. Ohioans hold two chairmanships.

Florida's senators, Martinez and Democrat Bill Nelson, are in their first terms. Of the House members, 11 have been here six years or less. That's a big change from 2000. Mack and Graham retired. Young was forced to relinquish his Appropriations Committee chairmanship because of GOP rules that limit members to six years atop a committee, while Rep. Clay Shaw left chairmanship of the Social Security Subcommittee to run a subcommittee on trade. Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs, retires this year.

Clout is political muscle. It means more than just the stream of federal dollars to local highways and other projects, it affects countless decisions and priorities. In a Capitol where everything is a trade-off, clout helps determine, for example, whether a new subsidy for Midwestern farmers will mean less money for beach renourishment, aid for senior citizens or dredging shipping channels in Tampa Bay.

California, New York and Texas took the top honors. Ohio moved up from sixth to fourth.

"It's really quite astonishing how little Floridians are getting from their 25 House members," said Dan Smith, a political science professor at the University of Florida. "We have a dearth of real leaders in the House from Florida. It's surprising how little clout these members have."

Floridians in Congress often tout their unity. In reality, they're together on the easy stuff, like obtaining federal highway funding and preserving Florida military bases. But on matters of trade, immigration, education and environmental protection, Florida's geographic diversity ensures that members are frequently at odds, even within their parties.

When it comes to trade, for instance, the state's citrus and sugar interests give some Republicans a protectionist streak, while others are pure free-traders. On the environment, Democrats and some South Florida Republicans often support tougher regulation and stronger fuel efficiency requirements than the staunch conservatives from central and northern Florida.

The exception always has been oil and gas drilling.

For years, the near-unanimous position of the state's lawmakers was simple: No oil or gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, no matter the cost.

Last year, even that changed.

Several Republican members, including Bilirakis, brokered a deal with House leaders to permit drilling as close as 120 miles to the state's coast. House Democrats opposed it, as did a handful of Republicans and both U.S. senators, and it died.

The lawmakers have downplayed the rift, saying they all want to secure long-term protection for Florida's beaches.

Shaw said he wants the Florida members to find agreement on drilling, and they talk frequently. The Republican House members meet privately about every other week, and they recently invited Sen. Martinez to join them.

There is little formal communication between the Democrats and Republicans, but some work on bills together. When Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat, introduced a bill that would guarantee life insurance for people who travel to dangerous places, such as Israel, she turned to Martinez for help.

In the Senate, Nelson and Martinez talk daily and collaborate on legislation affecting Florida, including on military affairs, federal disaster assistance and hurricane debris removal.

"I think that from the Senate's standpoint, people are kind of surprised," Nelson said. "They didn't expect a Republican and a Democrat to get along near as well as we do."

They live in the same Orlando neighborhood, and Nelson often jogs by Martinez's house. Sometimes he knocks on his door, he said, but Martinez usually isn't home.

Martinez has one advantage most freshmen senators don't: He is a former cabinet secretary, serving as President Bush's chief of Housing and Urban Development. That gives him important ties to the White House, as well as a certain celebrity on the Hill. His colleagues look to him as an expert in housing issues and, as the first Cuban immigrant to serve in the Senate, in Latin American affairs.

Martinez is just one reason that when members of the delegation look to the future, they see the promise for more clout.

California will soon be in Florida's position, as age and in-House term limits take their toll. Florida, meanwhile, has several people on the way up.

Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow is considered a rising star in his party, and he's running for chairmanship of the House Republican policy committee, the fifth-highest job in the House leadership. Two young Democrats, Wasserman Schultz of Broward County and Kendrick Meek of Miami, also are making names for themselves. The Democrats recently chose Wasserman Schultz to testify at the hearing for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

"If the Democrats take over, a couple people are working hard and are young and dynamic," said Smith, the University of Florida professor.

Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, is running for chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Though he has been fighting lung cancer, his chances of winning may have improved with the recent turmoil in the House leadership.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, is in line for chairman of the International Relations Committee. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, also of Miami, plans to run for chairman of the House Rules Committee. Jacksonville's Ander Crenshaw is a contender to run the Budget Committee.

And while Young is no longer chairman of the Appropriations Committee, he does run the subcommittee that oversees funding for defense matters, which holds lots of sway. "You have to remember that 434 members of Congress would still give their right arm to be chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee," Putnam said.

Amy Walter, senior editor of the Washington-based Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan political newsletter, said Florida remains influential because of its growing population, which could lead to another congressional seat, and its role as a battleground state in presidential elections.

"There are more opportunities for Florida to be in influential," she said. "It's a big state and it deserves more clout."

Times researcher researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. The stories and analysis on these pages are the work of the Washington Bureau of the St. Petersburg Times.

[Last modified January 21, 2006, 23:05:57]